Bovell wins Berlin 100 IM with new T&T standard

Trinidad and Tobago's George Bovell yesterday added Berlin gold in the men's 100 metres individual medley to the three other gold medals he has won in the FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup series.

Twenty-nine-year-old Bovell has so far won four gold and five silver medals, and will look to add another gold today when he competes in the 50m freestyle.

Yesterday, Bovell set a new T&T 100 IM record of 51.20 seconds, lowering the 51.56 standard he had established when winning double gold in Stockholm, Sweden, last weekend. Bovell's 51.20 swim is the fastest on the World Cup circuit this year, bettering the 51.43 clocked by Australian Kenneth To, in Dubai.

Bovell also vaulted into a tie with Duje Draganja for fifth all-time in the event's history. Only Peter Mankoc (50.76), Ryan Lochte (50.81), Sergey Fesikova (50.95) and Gerhard Zandberg (51.05) have clocked faster times.

Bovell cracked the US$10,000 mark with US$11,000 in winnings. To is still the FINA World Cup men's points leader, and has earned US$12,500. South Africa's Darian Townsend, meanwhile, has US$13,500 in winnings.

Heat four winner, Bovell (53.85) was the second fastest qualifier, behind heat three winner, Townsend (53.70).

In Stockholm, Bovell grabbed 50 free gold in a national short course record time of 20.82 seconds, his first ever sub-21 clocking in the event and a new national record. He clocked 20.90 when winning his third World Cup gold, in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday. American veteran Anthony Ervin was forced to settle for silver.

The FINA World Cup is a global circuit of eight two-day meets, staged between October 2 and November 11. The gruelling World Cup series has so far featured meets in Dubai (UAE), Doha (Qatar), Stockholm (Sweden), Moscow (Russia) and Berlin (Germany), with Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan) and Singapore still to come.

All events are contested in short course (25-metre) pools, and the overall circuit winners–men and women–at the end of the series, will earn US$100,000 each.